She lowered her shields and let her power surge again, fueled by fear and rage and the desperate need to save herself. Simultaneously flames exploded around the gunman. Megan’s energy weapon hit the fire, turning it into a conflagration so bright it seared her retinas.
She rolled away, catching glimpses of the gunman as he fell backward, dropping the glowing, melting hunk of metal that had been the gun. The living room windows shattered. Jesus, how many people were shooting at them?
Greyson landed on top of her with a thud. His heart was beating so hard she could feel it through their clothes. “Are you okay?”
Megan didn’t realize she was crying until she tried to talk and nothing came out. She could hardly breathe, much less speak, but she managed a tiny nod.
The room fell silent.
“They’re waiting for us,” he whispered. She nodded again.
Sirens sounded in the distance, growing louder. For a second relief flooded her body, until she realized that if the police and fire trucks were coming, the gunmen needed to finish their work. Now.
Her thoughts were either right in unison with Greyson’s and their assailants, or only a split second behind. His fingers curled around her arm and ripped her up from the floor. A barrage of bullets sent chunks flying from the walls and blasted the picture frames on them, glass raining down on their heads like diamonds as they ran for the hall.
Light spilled faintly from beneath the doors. Megan had the sickening feeling they were heading for a dead end as the sirens grew louder and the gunshots started to slow, but Greyson seemed to know what he was doing. He dragged her through a doorway—past a very surprised demon brushing his teeth—and smashed through the small window at the other end of the bathroom, twisting his body so his back took the brunt and dragging Megan after him.
Together they fell onto the icy ground outside.
All she wanted to do was lie there and let the blessed cold seep into her body, but Greyson yanked her from the ground before she even had a chance to take a breath.
“Come on, we have to get out of here before the—”
Another gunshot, and another, but slower this time, as though only one gunman was left. Megan thought she was going to pee herself. The quiet suburban street had become a vast wasteland, with nowhere to hide. Greyson’s car was out front and she knew as well as the gunmen did that they had to get back in that car if they were going to escape.
Like mice they scuttled across the lawn. Megan’s legs burned and ached. Trying to keep her balance on the frozen ground in her high heels was not easy. Like most petite women she could handle heels just fine, but this wasn’t simply trotting across a rainy street. This was balls-out running, while the sweat soaking her previously overheated body started to cool and all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and hide.
Flashing lights reflected off the front of the houses down the street as the fire engine started to make its turn. Greyson yanked open the passenger door of the car and practically threw her into it, then jumped in himself, shoving her into the driver’s seat. He pushed the button on the console to start the engine.
“Go! Go!”
She’d never driven his car before. The seat was way too far back, but there wasn’t time to adjust it so she perched on the very edge. He shoved the car into gear for her and she slammed her foot on the gas, glad she knew how to drive a stick.
Only her grip on the wheel kept her from falling backward as the car practically leaped away from the curb. The fire engine bore down on them, but Megan refused to look at it, staring instead at the road in front of her as they raced away from the gunmen, the demons, and the fire.
“Fuck! Fuck! That miserable little—damn it!” Greyson glanced back over his shoulder. “You weren’t hit? You’re okay?”
She managed a nod, shifted into third.
“Where was that bar?”
“What?”
“The bar, the one you went to last night. We need to go there, immediately.”
He was in shock, that’s what it was. This was the final straw, he’d finally cracked. “We can send the boys out for something when we get back to the room, let’s just—”
“We need an alibi, Meg. I don’t doubt for a second Maldon’s going to try and pin this on us. We have to go—”
“But Tera and Brian—”
“Tera and Brian aren’t from here. Get us to that bar. No, don’t slow down!”
“How is that an alibi?” But she was already making the necessary turns, heading for Kelly’s Tap. At least it was a plan, and even in her frazzled state she knew he was right about Tera and Brian. Those two could claim they’d been holding a prayer revival at Bev’s Holiday Hideaway, complete with choir, and the local police wouldn’t give a fuck because they were her friends.
“I’ll hypnotize them and you’ll help me.”
“How can—we don’t really look like we’ve been hanging around in a bar all night.” Even in the dim light from the dash she could see his left eye starting to swell from Maldon’s earlier blow.
“I’ll get in a fight.”
“But—”
“I’ll be with you, won’t I? I’m sure someone will have something to say. They certainly did last night.”
The parking lot of Kelly’s Tap was about half full when they arrived. Megan recognized a few of the cars from the night before. Great. Bed had never sounded more appealing. Especially now that it started to dawn on her what exactly Greyson meant to do.
“Okay.” He took her hand and led her toward the door, then stopped just outside. “Remember how you reached for me at the house? With your power, not anything else?”
She nodded.
“Lower your shields and do it again.”
“I don’t understand—”
“I’m not sure I do either, but it works in the other direction, so we’ll give it a go.”
Heads inside the bar were starting to turn. Greyson’s hand tensed on the door handle. “Just try it, bryaela.”
Megan closed her eyes and focused. She’d done it before, she’d felt those things like tentacles inside her body sweep through her veins and break through her skin…but nothing happened. She was too cold, she was too scared, she couldn’t relax.
He let go of her hand and touched her cheek, tilting her face up. “We’ll try it this way then,” he murmured, and her eyes fluttered shut again as he kissed her.
Smoothly, calmly, as if they weren’t standing outside a crowded bar full of people who hated her while the cops could arrive any moment. After a second or two all of that disappeared, as she leaned into him, clutching him around the waist with both arms while his fingers tightened against her cheek.
She relaxed, no longer cold, no longer worried, and let him coax her mouth open so his tongue could slip inside.
The familiar rush of his power and heat flooded through her body, turning her sigh into a moan. Alibi, schmalibi. They should go back to the hotel. They should go back right now…
Usually he stopped here, holding back to let the pressure build until they both couldn’t take any more. Not now. He kept pushing, pressing that glowing energy into her head, into her body.
She started shaking, not able to control it. His hand on the back of her neck forced her not to pull back even when she thought her head might explode in a shower of sparks.
“Give it back,” he murmured, his voice rough. “Come on, give it back…”
Somewhere in the back of her mind enough sanity lurked to remember what he was talking about, to remember the time he’d put his power behind her abilities and read a roomful of people in seconds.
“Please, Meg, I can’t—”
Her abilities…she lowered her shield and started to read, but instead of focusing on the people around her she focused on Greyson, and Greyson alone. With all her strength she shoved at him with her mind, pushing into him, and somehow those tentacles sprang again from her head and reached, invisible and intangible but real nonetheless.